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More Praise for The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, Second Edition

“Morton Deutsch, Peter Coleman, and Eric Marcus put together a handbook that will be helpful to many. I hope the book will reach well beyond North America to contribute to the growing worldwide interest in the constructive resolution of conflict. This book offers instructive ways to make this commit- ment a reality.”

—George J. Mitchell, former majority leader of the United States Senate; former chairman of the Peace

Negotiations in Northern Ireland and the International Fact- Finding Committee on Violence in the Middle East; chairman

of the board, Walt Disney Company; senior fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs,

Columbia University

“This volume is an extraordinary resource, a much-needed comprehensive hand- book on conflict resolution.”

—Arthur E. Levine, president emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University; president, Woodrow Wilson

National Fellowship Foundation

“This Handbook should be on the reading list of every course in peace and con- flict studies and especially on the lists used in teacher preparation courses in peace education, a field that seeks to cultivate understanding of constructive ways of confronting violence, alternatives to force and lethal conflict for the pur- suit of social purposes.”

—Betty Reardon, founding director emeritus, Peace Education Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

“In the past, I have been saying to all of my students at Kyushu University and the participants in my mediation trainings, ‘If you are serious about mediation, read The Handbook of Conflict Resolution.’ Now seeing the updated and enlarged second edition, I would say, ‘Read it, for it will help you become a thoughtful and insightful mediator.’”

—Hisako Kobayashi-Levin, associate professor, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University

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The Handbook of Conflict Resolution

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The Handbook of Conflict Resolution

Theory and Practice

Second Edition

Morton Deutsch Peter T. Coleman Eric C. Marcus

Editors

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Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fit- ness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained

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Credits are on page 941.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The handbook of conflict resolution : theory and practice / Morton Deutsch, Peter T. Coleman, Eric C. Marcus, editors.—2nd ed.

p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-8058-0 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7879-8058-7 (alk. paper) 1. Conflict management. I. Deutsch, Morton, date. II. Coleman, Peter T., date.

III. Marcus, Eric Colton. HM1126.H35 2006 303.6’9—dc22

2006022684

Printed in the United States of America SECOND EDITION

HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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CONTENTS

Preface xi

Introduction 1 Morton Deutsch

PART ONE: INTERPERSONAL AND INTERGROUP PROCESSES 21

1 Cooperation and Competition 23 Morton Deutsch

2 Justice and Conflict 43 Morton Deutsch

3 Constructive Controversy: The Value of Intellectual Opposition 69 David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Dean Tjosvold

4 Trust, Trust Development, and Trust Repair 92 Roy J. Lewicki

5 Power and Conflict 120 Peter T. Coleman

6 Communication and Conflict 144 Robert M. Krauss, Ezequiel Morsella

*7 Language, Peace, and Conflict Resolution 158 Francisco Gomes de Matos vii

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viii CONTENTS

8 Intergroup Conflict 176 Ronald J. Fisher

9 The PSDM Model: Integrating Problem Solving and Decision Making in Conflict Resolution 197 Eben A. Weitzman, Patricia Flynn Weitzman

*10 Gender Conflict and the Family 223 Janice M. Steil, Liora Hoffman

PART TWO: INTRAPSYCHIC PROCESSES 241

11 Judgmental Biases in Conflict Resolution and How to Overcome Them 243 Leigh Thompson, Janice Nadler, Robert B. Lount, Jr.

*12 Emotion and Conflict: Why It Is Important to Understand How Emotions Affect Conflict and How Conflict Affects Emotions 268 Evelin G. Lindner

13 Self-Regulation in the Service of Conflict Resolution 294 Walter Mischel, Aaron L. DeSmet, Ethan Kross

PART THREE: PERSONAL DIFFERENCES 315

*14 Implicit Theories and Conflict Resolution 317 Carol S. Dweck, Joyce Ehrlinger

15 Personality and Conflict 331 Sandra V. Sandy, Susan K. Boardman, Morton Deutsch

16 The Development of Conflict Resolution Skills: Preschool to Adulthood 356 Sandra V. Sandy

PART FOUR: CREATIVITY AND CHANGE 389

17 Creativity and Conflict Resolution: The Role of Point of View 391 Howard E. Gruber

18 Some Guidelines for Developing a Creative Approach to Conflict 402 Peter T. Coleman, Morton Deutsch

*19 Creativity in the Outcomes of Conflict 414 Peter J. Carnevale

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CONTENTS ix

20 Change and Conflict: Motivation, Resistance and Commitment 436 Eric C. Marcus

21 Changing Minds: Persuasion in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution 455 Alison Ledgerwood, Shelly Chaiken, Deborah H. Gruenfeld, Charles M. Judd

22 Learning Through Reflection 486 Victoria J. Marsick, Alfonso Sauquet, Lyle Yorks

PART FIVE: DIFFICULT CONFLICTS 507

23 Aggression and Violence 509 Susan Opotow

24 Intractable Conflict 533 Peter T. Coleman

*25 Moral Conflict and Engaging Alternative Perspectives 560 Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Ilene Wasserman

*26 Matters of Faith: Religion, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution 582 Bridget Moix

*27 Conflict Resolution and Human Rights 602 Andrea Bartoli, Yannis Psimopoulos

PART SIX: CULTURE AND CONFLICT 623

28 Culture and Conflict 625 Paul R. Kimmel

*29 Multicultural Conflict Resolution 649 Paul Pederson

30 Cooperative and Competitive Conflict in China 671 Dean Tjosvold, Kwok Leung, David W. Johnson

PART SEVEN: MODELS OF PRACTICE 693

31 Teaching Conflict Resolution Skills in a Workshop 695 Ellen Raider, Susan Coleman, Janet Gerson

32 Mediation Revisited 726 Kenneth Kressel

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x CONTENTS

33 Managing Conflict Through Large-Group Methods 757 Barbara Benedict Bunker

*34 Conflict in Organizations 781 W. Warner Burke

*35 Eight Suggestions from the Small-Group Conflict Trenches 805 Kenneth Sole

PART EIGHT: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE 823

36 A Framework for Thinking About Research on Conflict Resolution Initiatives 825 Morton Deutsch, Jennifer S. Goldman

*37 Some Research Frontiers in the Study of Conflict and Its Resolution 849 Dean G. Pruitt

Concluding Overview 869 Peter T. Coleman, Eric C. Marcus

Recommended Reading 881

About the Editors 895

About the Contributors 897

Name Index 913

Subject Index 929

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xi

PREFACE

The field of conflict resolution has been developing rapidly. As a conse- quence, we decided to update and revise the first edition of this handbook. Almost all of the chapters in the first edition have been updated; in some,

the revisions have been extensive and in others, only minor changes seemed necessary. Also, we have added new chapters to cover topics that were not cov- ered or needed more coverage than they received in the first edition.

The new chapters have an asterisk next to them in the Contents. They are important, original contributions to the field of conflict resolution by out- standing scholars and practitioners as are the updated chapters from the first edition.

In the Preface to the first edition, we characterized the purpose of the hand- book, its organization, professional value, and the handbook’s orientation. All of this is expressed in this modified Preface to the first edition. The modification was made so that the description of the different parts of the book, and the chapters contained in these parts, correspond to the revised, second edition rather than to the first edition.

This book is meant for those who wish to deepen their understanding of the processes involved in conflicts and their knowledge of how to manage them constructively. It provides the theoretical underpinnings that throw light on the fundamental social psychological processes involved in understand- ing and managing conflicts at all levels: interpersonal, intergroup, organiza- tional, and international.

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As an area of scholarship and professional practice, conflict resolution is rel- atively young, having emerged as a discipline after World War II. Practice and theory have been only loosely linked. This book aims to foster closer connec- tion between the two by demonstrating the relevance of theoretical ideas to practice. Though the link between theory and practice is inherently bidirec- tional, this handbook primarily emphasizes the path from theory to practice.

The theoretical ideas presented in this book were for the most part not devel- oped specifically in relation to understanding conflict, nor to facilitate profes- sional practice in this area. They have relevance to any area in which it is important to understand the basic processes involved in social interactions of all sorts, in various contexts—at work; in politics, schools, families, clinics, courts, and bedrooms; on highways; and elsewhere. For the purposes of this book, the authors have developed their chapters to bring out the relevance of the theories being discussed to understanding conflict specifically.

When appropriate, chapters contain three sections. The first deals with the theoretical ideas in the substantive area being discussed. The second draws out the implications of these ideas for understanding conflict, and the third is con- cerned with the implications of these ideas for educating or training people to manage their conflicts more constructively.

The Handbook of Conflict Resolution is divided into sections somewhat arbi- trarily, and inevitably there is overlap among them. The introductory chapter gives examples of real conflicts and indicates the kinds of questions one might pose to understand what is going on in the conflicts—questions that are addressed in many of these chapters. The Introduction also has a brief discus- sion of the orientations of the practitioners on the one hand and the researcher- theorists on the other, to permit some insight into the misunderstandings that often occur between these two groups. It also contains an abbreviated history of the study of conflict, from a social psychological perspective, and indicates the sorts of questions that have been and are being addressed.

Parts One through Four comprise the major portion of the book and present the theoretical ideas that have been developed (mainly in areas of social psy- chology) that are useful in understanding conflict processes as well as in help- ing people to learn to manage their conflicts constructively. The authors of the chapters in the first four parts discuss the practical implications of their ideas for conflict as well as the theoretical foundations underlying the implications they draw.

Even apart from their usefulness for conflict, the theoretical ideas should be of value to anyone interested in understanding the nature of basic social psychological processes involved in social interactions of any kind. The table of contents for Parts One through Four indicates to the reader the broad range of theoretical ideas and their implications for conflict that are discussed in this

xii PREFACE

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section. They are grouped, arbitrarily, into interpersonal and intergroup processes, intrapsychic processes, personal difference, and creativity and change. Almost all of the chapters discuss matters that cross such arbitrary boundaries. New chapters (Chapters Seven, Ten, Twelve, Fourteen, and Nineteen) respec- tively deal with language, emotion, gender, and personal implicit theories as they relate to conflict.

Part Five is concerned with difficult conflicts. Two revised chapters (Twenty- Three and Twenty-Four) are concerned with aggression as violence and intractable conflict, respectively. Three new chapters have been added: Chap- ter Twenty-Five is focused on moral conflict, Chapter Twenty-Six is concerned with religious issues, and Chapter Twenty-Seven deals with the connections between human rights and conflicts.

Part Six contains three chapters that consider the relation between culture and conflict, each from a somewhat different perspective. Chapters Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Nine (a new chapter) examine some of the common sorts of mis- understanding that can arise when people from varying cultural backgrounds interact and what can be done to help people learn to understand one another’s cultural background. Then Chapter Thirty examines an influential theoretical approach to conflict resolution, developed in the United States, to see how it is (or is not) applicable to conflict in the entirely different context of China.

Part Seven is most directly concerned with practice. The first of its chapters presents the Coleman-Raider Model for training in constructive conflict resolu- tion, which has been extensively used by our colleagues in the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. Chapter Thirty-Two discusses mediation, as well as its values and limitations, from the perspective of some- one who is both a highly respected mediator and an outstanding researcher in this area. Chapter Thirty-Three then discusses recently developed methods of managing conflict in large groups by someone who has coauthored the first book in this area and who is a distinguished scholar and practitioner of these methods. Two new chapters have been added to this section. Chapter Thirty- Four is concerned with managing conflict in organizations by a leading scholar/practitioner in this area, and Chapter Thirty-Five presents reflections on practice by one of the most creative practitioners in the field.

Finally, in Part Eight, we look to the future. Chapter Thirty-Six presents a framework for thinking about research on conflict resolution training. As of this writing, there has been little good and systematic research in this area. If the field is to develop and have a bright future, it needs more research. Chapter Thirty-Seven (a new chapter) presents the author’s views of the future direc- tions that basic research on conflict and its resolution might well take; the author has been the leading researcher and scholar in this area. The conclud- ing chapter is an overview and commentary on the current state of the field; it

PREFACE xiii

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considers issues such as what substantive questions need to be addressed that have not received the attention they warrant—that is, the practice as well as theoretical issues.

The contributors to The Handbook of Conflict Resolution are an illustrious group of experts in the areas with which their chapters are concerned. We have asked them to write chapters that can be easily understood by readers who are not social scientists but that are also credible to other experts in their areas. Fur- ther, we suggested to them that they limit considerably the number of techni- cal references in their chapter but add a short list of Recommended Readings to provide additional sources of information, if they desired to do so. Given the opaqueness of much writing in the social sciences, it is surprising how well the contributors have succeeded in writing clear, informative, interesting, useful, and authoritative chapters.

We believe The Handbook of Conflict Resolution is accessible and valuable to a wide variety of groups who have an interest in constructive conflict manage- ment: to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as their professors, in a number of academic fields such as psychology, education, sociology, political science, business, international relations, law, social work, and health care. It is also of value to practitioners such as conflict resolution trainers and consul- tants, negotiators, mediators, and those who manage or supervise others. In editing this handbook, we have learned a great deal, so we believe that even those considered “experts” can find much of value in it.

One final word about the handbook’s orientation. This handbook is concerned with finding cooperative, win-win solutions to conflict, no matter how difficult. The “black arts” of conflict (such as violence, coercion, intimidation, deceit, black- mail, and seduction) are not discussed except, if at all, in the context of how to respond to or prevent the use of such tactics by oneself or others. In our view, such tactics are used too often, are commonly destructive and self-defeating, and are less productive in the long run than a constructive approach.

We wish to thank our faculty colleagues who participated in an informal seminar on conflict resolution at Teachers College; the inspiration for this book emerged from the lively discussions in the seminar. We also wish to thank Riva Kantowitz, Kathleen Vaughan, Joanne Lim, Danny Mallonga, Will Concepcion, Kathryn Crawford, Melissa Sweeney, and Naira Musallam, who typed, e-mailed, did editorial work, and provided other invaluable services necessary to produce a completed manuscript.

July 2006 Morton Deutsch New York, New York Peter T. Coleman

Eric C. Marcus

xiv PREFACE

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The Handbook of Conflict Resolution

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INTRODUCTION Morton Deutsch

I n this introduction, I give some examples of conflicts and indicate the kinds of questions one might pose to understand what is going on in the conflicts— questions that are addressed in many of the following chapters. It also

includes a brief discussion of the orientations of both practitioners and researcher-theorists to provide some insight into the misunderstandings that often occur between these two groups. It concludes with an abbreviated history of the study of conflict from a social psychological perspective.

A CONFLICT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to do therapeutic work with a professional couple involved in bitter conflicts over issues they considered nonnegotiable. The destructiveness of their way of dealing with their conflicts was reflected in their tendency to escalate a dispute about almost any specific issue (for exam- ple, a household chore, the child’s bedtime) into a power struggle in which each spouse felt that his or her self-esteem or core identity was at stake. The destruc- tive process resulted in (as well as from) justified mutual suspicion; correctly perceived mutual hostility; a win-lose orientation to their conflicts; a tendency to act so as to lead the other to respond in a way that would confirm one’s worst suspicion; inability to understand and empathize with the other’s needs and

1

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vulnerabilities; and reluctance—based on stubborn pride, nursed grudges, and fear of humiliation—to initiate or respond to a positive, generous action so as to break out of the escalating vicious cycle in which they were trapped.

Many couples involved in such conflicts do not seek help; they continue to abuse one another, sometimes violently, or they break up. The couple that I worked with sought help for several reasons. On the one hand, their conflicts were becoming physically violent. This frightened them, and it also ran counter to their strongly held intellectual values regarding violence. On the other hand, there were strong constraints making it difficult for them to separate. Their child would suffer; they felt they would be considerably worse off economically; and they had mutually congenial intellectual, aesthetic, sexual, and recreational interests that would be difficult to continue engaging in together if they sepa- rated. As is often the case in such matters, it was the woman—being less ashamed to admit the need for help—who took the initiative to seek the assis- tance of a skilled third party.

The wife, who worked (and preferred to do so), wanted the husband to share equally in the household and child care responsibilities; she considered equality of the genders to be a core personal value. The husband wanted a “traditional marriage” with a conventional division of responsibilities in which he would be the primary income-producing worker outside the home, while his wife would principally do the work related to the household and child care. The husband con- sidered household work and child care inconsistent with his deeply rooted image of adult masculinity. The conflict seemed nonnegotiable to the couple. For the wife, it would mean betrayal of her feminist values to accept her husband’s terms; for him, it would violate his sense of male adult identity to become deeply involved in housework and child care.

Yet this nonnegotiable conflict became negotiable when, with the help of the therapist, the husband and wife were able to listen to and really understand the other’s feelings and how their respective life experiences had led them to the views they each held. Understanding the other’s position fully, and the feelings and expe- riences behind them, made each person feel less hurt and humiliated by the other’s position and readier to seek solutions that would accommodate the interests of both. They realized that with their joint incomes they could afford to pay for household and child care help that would enable the wife to be considerably less burdened by such responsibilities without increasing the husband’s chores in these areas (though doing so, of course, lessened the amount of money they had avail- able for other purposes).

This solution was not perfect for either partner. Each would have preferred that the other share his or her own view of what a marriage should be like. But their deeper understanding of the other’s position made them feel less humili- ated and threatened by it and less defensive toward the other. It also enabled them to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement that lessened tensions,

2 THE HANDBOOK OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION: THEORY AND PRACTICE

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despite the continuing differences in basic perspective. (See Deutsch, 1988, for further discussion of negotiating the nonnegotiable.)

AN INTERGROUP CONFLICT AT A SCHOOL

A conflict has developed between two groups of teachers at a high school in New York City: the Black Teachers Caucus (BTC) and the newly formed Site-Based Management (SBM) Committee. The SBM committee’s eighteen members con- sist of the principal, the union chairperson, a representative from the parents’ association, a student, and an elected teacher representative from each acade- mic department. All of the SBM members are European American, with the exception of an African American teacher chosen from the math department.

At the last SBM meeting, the math teacher proposed that an official voting seat be designated for an African American teacher. After much heated discus- sion, the proposal was voted down. But the problems raised by the proposal did not go away. Much personal bitterness has ensued.

The school has experienced a recent demographic shift from a predominantly white student body to one that is now mainly composed of students of color. This has occurred for two reasons. First, there has been a large influx of stu- dents of color from the city-owned housing projects constructed in the district during the past two years. Second, as a result the number of science-oriented students coming from other parts of the city has dropped.

The present student population is approximately 40 percent African American, 30 percent Latino American, 25 percent European American, and 5 percent Asian American. The faculty is 90 percent European American and 10 per- cent African American. The parents’ association is 100 percent European American.

The Position of the BTC The BTC believes that the SBM committee needs its input to make the changes needed—specifically, the curriculum is Eurocentric and many school policies are out of touch with the cultural perspective of the current student population. In addition, the caucus is very concerned about an increase in bias-related incidents in the community and wants to initiate antiracism classes at all grade levels.

The members of the BTC believe that even though the majority of the man- agement committee members are sincerely interested in bringing about positive school change and are good, dedicated teachers, they lack personal under- standing of the impact of racism on the African American experience. Some even seem to still value the old melting-pot approach to race relations, a posi- tion the cauc